I hated dinner parties. But I decided to give them another shot because I’m in London. And my friend Mallery invited me. And because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New York. There, “I’m having a dinner party” means “I’m booking a table for 12 at a restaurant you can’t afford and we’ll be sharing the cheque evenly, no matter what you eat.”
Worse, in Manhattan there is always someone who leaves before the bill arrives. They’ll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and then people like me, who don’t drink, end up paying even more. But if I try to use the same trick, the hostess will shout “Where are you going?” And it’s not like I can say I have somewhere to go : everyone knows I have nowhere to go.
But in London, dinner parties are in people’s homes. Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix. The last time I went to one, the guests were from France, India, Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a gathering at the United Nations. In New York, the mix is less striking. It’s like a gathering at Bloomingdale’s, a well-known department store.
For New Yorkers, talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New York. But at Mallery’s, when I said that I had been to Myanmar recently, people knew where it was. In New York people would think it was a usual new club.
【小题1】What does the word “shot” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

With the rapid progress of technology, the English language is changing fast. All the people have to face a choice: either ignore the development of the language and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive, or keep pace with the Internet age, welcoming the new English which someone has once called Weblish. “you can’t avoid it for the simple reason that wherever a new language comes along, it surely impacts (影响) the language as a whole,” says Dr David Crystal, a famous language professor at the University of Wales.
However, there is great trouble with keeping up with the new English because there are so many new words and the old ones no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past if someone said they didn’t have “Windows”, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave without windows. But now, it is probably because they use a Mac, which is a computer. Spam, which once meant a not-so-good-kind of canned meat, now stands for unwanted “junk (垃圾)” email.
Spelling is changing too. Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs ( for example, “Please bookmark this site”), and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”).Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(for example, dial-up, logon, print-out, pull-down, upload), while others are created from a simple pairing of nouns: cyberspace, ethernet, Internet, hyperlink, metatag and netspeak.
【小题1】 We can infer from the first paragraph that _____ .

阅读下面短文，并根据短文后的要求回答问题（请注意问题后的字数要求）。
[l]Fear and pain are two of the most useful things that human beings and animals have, if they are properly used. If fire did not hurt when it burnt, children would play with it until their hands were burnt away. Similarly, if pain existed but fear didn’t, a child would burn himself again and again, because fear would not warn himself to keep away from the fire that had burnt himself before. A really fearless soldier is not a good soldier because he will soon be killed; and a dead soldier is of no use to his army. Fear and pain are therefore two guards without which human beings and animals might soon die out.
[2] In our first sentence we suggested that fear should be properly used. If, for example, you never go out of your house because of the danger of being knocked down and killed in the street by a car, you are letting fear rule you too much. Even in your house you are not absolutely safe: A plane may crash on your house, or you may get cancer!
[3] The important thing is not to let fear rule you, but to use fear as your servant and guide instead. Fear will warn you of dangers; then you have to decide what action to take.
[4] In many cases, you can take quick and successful action to avoid the danger. For example, you see a car coming straight towards you. Fear warns you, then you jump out of the way, and all is well.
[5] In some cases, however, you decide that there is nothing that you can do to ___________. For example, you can’t prevent a plane crashing onto your house. In this case, fear is no longer of any use, and you have to try to overcome it.
【小题1】What is mainly talked about in this passage? (no more than 15 words)
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【小题2】How does the author support his idea in Paragraph 2? (no more than 5 words)
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【小题3】Why does the author say that a fearless soldier is not a good soldier? (no more than 15 words)
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【小题4】 What benefit can we get from “fear” according to the passage? (no more than 10 words)
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【小题5】Fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with proper words. (no more than 5 words)
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                            B
　　What is language for? Some people seem to think it's for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words—the longer the lists，the better. That's wrong. Language is for the exchange（交流）of ideas and information. It's meaningless knowing all about a language if you can't use it freely. Many students I have met know hundreds of grammar rules, but they can't speak correctly or fluently. They are afraid of making mistakes. One shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes when speaking a foreign language. Native speakers make mistakes and break rules, too. Bernard saw once wrote, "Foreigners often speak English too correctly." But the mistakes that native speakers make are different from those that Chinese students make. They're English mistakes in the English language. And if enough native speakers break a rule, it is no longer a rule. What used to be wrong becomes right. People not only make history, they make language. But a people can only make its own language. It can't make another people's language. So Chinese students of English should pay attention to grammar, but they shouldn't overdo（做过头）it. They should put communication first.　
【小题1】Language is used to ________.
A. express oneself　　　        B. practice grammar rules
B. talk with foreigners only    D. learn lists of words
【小题2】Generally, when an American or an Englishman speaks English, he ________.

Some years ago I was offered a writing assignment that would require three months of travel through Europe. I had been abroad a couple of times，but I could hardly claim to know my way around the continent. Moreover, my knowledge of foreign languages was limited to a little college French.
I hesitated. How would I, unable to speak the language, totally unfamiliar with local geography or transportation systems, set up interviews and do research? It seemed impossible, and with considerable regret. I sat down to write a letter begging off. Halfway through, a thought ran through my mind： you can't learn if you don't try. So I accepted the assignment.
There were some bad moments. But by the time I had finished the trip I was an experienced traveler. And ever since，I have never hesitated to head for even the most remote of places，without guides or even advanced bookings, confident that somehow I will manage.
The point is that the new, the different, is almost scary by definition. But each time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you.
I've learned to ski at 40, and flown up the Rhine River in a balloon. And I know I'll go on doing such things. It's not because I'm braver or more daring than others. I'm not. But I'll accept anxiety as another name for challenge and I believe I can accomplish wonders.
【小题1】The author accepted the assignment because _____